Celebrity Big Brother / Eliot Pollak / 26 January 2012 /

Eliot Pollack waves a reluctant goodbye to Celebrity Big Brother and tries to predict in which order the contestants will leave the house on Friday night...

Things you don't hear too often (Part 1 in a single-episode series): "This series of Big Brother has just been too short."

Unlikely as it sounds, the biggest disappointment of 2012 Celebrity BB has been its brevity - a mere three weeks, the same length as Channel 4 used to give the series. Back then, in the heady days of Galloway, Dee, Feltz et al, the short time period made sense. After all, these housemates weren't idle students or unemployed Scots. They were busy celebrities, who could only take a little bit of time away from Parliament, comedy or cakes.

In FIVE's world of celebrity however, this doesn't really apply. Most of the inmates are professional reality show characters anyway - their diaries would allow them to move in permanently to the Big Brother house, if the demand was there.

Yet out they will come tomorrow night, but in which order? Once more FIVE has been the home of the upset (replacing the FA Cup, interestingly enough), and predicting anything BB-wise is tough. Nevertheless...

Much unfancied at the start, Frankie Cocozza [2.64] is now the justified favourite. Leaked X Factor results have revealed how incredibly popular he was on that show, despite his indiscretions and total inability to sing. Should those same voters have drifted across channels, he will run away with it, such is the enormity of the X Factor voter-base.

But the more daring gambler would be wise to throw some shekels at the nice guy of the house - Gareth Thomas [4.7]. Remember, the kindly gypsy wasn't supposed to win the last incarnation of the show. Might it be the turn of the gentle Welshman?

The odds will tell you that Denise Welch [3.65] is more likely to triumph than Thomas - she's certainly had the most intriguing journey of anyone in there. A hunch however suggests that she is ultimately too polarising.

The Twins believe that they have it in the bag. They don't.

Our final tip is to back Michael Madsen [6.2] in the Top Male market. If Denise is crowned the winner, don't be too surprised to see her spending a final awkward half-hour in the house with a brooding Michael, the runner-up.

So by 22:30 Friday, it will all be over. Yet don't be too sad BB fanatics. This is FIVE we're dealing with here. A new series of this nonsense probably starts next week.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: